The banking group reported a broadly strong set of financial figures for the first quarter, with a number of records in its wealth management side.

DBS, the Singapore-headquartered bank, today reported a net profit of S$1.21 billion ($867 million) in the first three months of this year, a 1 per cent year-on-year increase.

Within wealth management, the bank logged record income of S$1.159 billion (S$1.02 billion); a record level of net fee income at S$222 million (S$176 milllion a year ago), pre-tax income of S$534 million (A$437 million) - also a record - and assets under management of S$170 billion, the highest-ever level.

The bank said business momentum "remained healthy" wih fee income clocking up a record.

Including one-time items, net profit across the entire DBS group was S$1.25 billion. As previously announced, there was a gain of S$350 million from the divestment of the PwC Building in Singapore. In addition, S$10 million of integration costs for the retail and wealth management business acquired from ANZ was accrued, DBS said in a statement.

Net interest income across the bank was unchanged from a year ago at S$1.83 billion. The impact of softer Singapore-dollar interest rates was offset by higher loan volumes, which rose 7 per cent in constant-currency terms to S$298 billion from growth in corporate, trade and Singapore housing loans.

Net fee income rose 16 per cent to S$665 million. The growth was led by a 26 per cent increase in wealth management fees to a quarterly high of S$222 million from stronger sales of unit trusts and other investment products.

“We have had a good start to the year. Earnings were maintained at the quarterly high achieved a year ago as business momentum and productivity gains were sustained, offsetting the impact of a lower net interest margin. Our business pipeline is healthy, consistent with the recent improvement in economic data for key markets. While asset quality pressures appear to be moderating, we remain vigilant to continued headwinds in the oil and gas support services sector," DBS chief executive Piyush Gupta said.